That the BMC set aside Rs 3,693.24 crore for its health department this fiscal is a cruel joke to the Jayaswals. Sion resident Dayanandh Jayaswal (65) helplessly watched his son, Jatan (26), writhing in pain on the floor of Sion Hospital's emergency ward at 2 am today as doctors and hospital staff chided them for 'making a scene.'

Jatan, accompanied by his 65-year-old father, was rushed to Sion Hospital early this morning with chronic back pain. At the emergency ward, doctors recommended that he get an X-ray performed at the adjoining building. Neither did any hospital staff come to the Jayaswals' help nor could they find a wheelchair — the most essential facility at any hospital — in the ward to get to the building.

The Jayaswals were left to their own devices to get to an adjoining building of Sion Hospital for an X-ray

Unable to take the pain any more, Jatan collapsed on the floor. Instead of coming to his rescue, the hospital staff allegedly reprimanded the two, ordering Dayanandh to take his son away.

After running around for quite a bit, Dayanandh found a broken wheelchair — its wheels were not of the same size — in the ward. According to the father, that was the only wheelchair in all of the emergency ward. "My son was in pain. The doctor wanted me to take him to the adjacent building. But I am a 65-year-old man. How could I carry him?" complained Dayanandh.

Around 20 minutes later, a hospital staffer offered to wheel Jatan into the adjacent building for the X-ray. mid-day reached out to Dr Merchant, dean of Sion Hospital, and Dr Avinash Supe, director of major hospitals, but there was no response.

A familiar malady

Dr Ravikant Singh, a health activist, said most government- and civic-run hospitals don’t have functional infrastructure support. "That's why most patients prefer private hospitals to civic hospitals, even though the latter have equally qualified doctors." Dr Abhijit More of NGO Jan Arogya Abhiyan said the organisation has raised the shortage of wheelchairs in civic/state hospitals with the health department several times.

'Unacceptable'Idzes KundanAddl municipal commissioner (health) This is completely unacceptable. A major hospital should have enough wheelchairs for patients. Though there is no fixed rule on the number of wheelchairs in each hospital. It is proportionate to the number of patients.